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Representatives of 60 Alberta companies are travelling to Vancouver next month to scout opportunities in B.C.’s fledgling LNG industry. And they have a second item on their agenda.

The Albertans will be lobbying British Columbians about getting their oil to tidewater.

The Nov. 5 to 7 junket, costing about $2,000 per person, is a project of the Alberta Enterprise Group, roughly the counterpart of the Business Council of B.C.

“Make no mistake,” says Enterprise Group president Josh Bilyk, “we support pipelines to get Canadian energy to market. But we want to talk in a broader sense, whether it’s LNG, oil, agricultural products, or any other commodity, B.C. is the gateway to important markets.

“We have something to say. We want British Columbians to understand that we want to work together to find solutions that benefit the entire country.”

Enterprise Group Chair Terry O’Flynn asserts: “One can have strong views about the environment, but also recognize that Canada needs to get its products to market.”

The roadshow follows some polling sponsored by the Calgary-based Canada West Foundation last year that explored attitudes to resource development. The research found that “the two neighbours just don’t ‘get’ each other very well,” according to Trevor McLeod, director of the foundation’s Centre for Natural Resources Policy.

“People in Alberta think B.C. people ... don’t have a lot of energy literacy in their lives. And they don’t care about the rest of the country and (its) aspirations ... to get products to market.”

The Ipsos poll, on “social licence,” probed the attitudes of more than 3,000 people in the four Western provinces plus Ontario, toward energy, mining, forestry and agriculture.

It found that British Columbians have a unique distrust of both the oil and mining industries.

Of those polled across the five provinces, B.C. respondents expressed the least trust for such industries, while Albertans were second only to Saskatchewan residents in registering trust.

Bilyk says his group is aware of the Canada West Foundation’s research. “It’s clear to us there’s a challenge in B.C. To build needed energy infrastructure we need to ensure we have the involvement and support of First Nations.

“And British Columbians need to know their environment is being protected.

“We want to better understand those challenges and help address them.”

Bilyk notes his group has led similar junkets in the past to Quebec, Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

The goal of the B.C. trip includes a search for west coast business opportunities. The Enterprise Group believes the potential for LNG development “approaches the scale of the oilsands.”

Albertans, he says, have developed expertise in managing and servicing large-scale or mega projects. “We’re ideally suited to working in B.C.’s proposed LNG industry.”

In a news release, the group says the visiting Albertans are scheduled to meet with “hundreds of senior and executive business leaders and political decision makers to gain a greater understanding of the B.C. economy” and culture.

Bilyk understands that “some British Columbians don’t see the economic benefits (of energy development) — but they are there.”

His members hope to showcase “the prosperity that responsible resource development already is creating in B.C. (and) to help bridge that disconnect and find that middle ground together.”

What Bilyk and his group may discover, however, is there is scant middle ground to be had.

If the goal is fostering a more positive attitude to new pipeline infrastructure on the west coast, a three-day brush with corporate types and politicians is not going to do it.

Until ordinary B.C. residents and aboriginals develop greater confidence in oil company operations and become convinced government and corporate resources are in place to fully clean up and compensate for inevitable spills, negative attitudes to new pipeline construction are unlikely to soften.

During their visit, the Albertans will get a harbour tour and access to a CFL game, so the trip may well prove successful on other fronts.

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Barbara Yaffe: Alberta business group bringing pro-pipeline message to B.C.

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